Predstave predšolskih otrok o varovanju okolja

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Language:	Slovenian
Year of publishing:	2014
Source:	Ljubljana
Typology:	2.11 - Undergraduate Thesis
Organization:	UL PEF - Faculty of Education
Publisher:	[U. Anžlovar]
UDC:	373.2.016:502(043.2)
COBISS:	10340937
Views:	726
Downloads:	130
Average score:	0 (0 votes)
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Secondary language:	English
Secondary title:	Preschoolers' ideas about environmental protection
Secondary abstract:	Environmental education should be started in pre-school, when children begin to develop their basic values. Naturally, the level of the child development should also be taken into account. Pre-school children should gradually start understanding their responsibility towards all living beings and our common future. In many pre-schools, the teachers often emphasize the importance of several ongoing pro-environmental actions, such as separate waste collection, a less frequent car use, along with turning off the lights and closing the water valves when light or water are not needed. The main question that arises is, whether the kids interpret these instructions only as socially desirable behavior, or do they actually understand how these actions work towards protecting the environment. This is also the main focus of my thesis. By performing individual interviews, I explored whether preschoolers understand the link between the performed environment preserving activities and their positive influence on the environment. The research sample consisted of 57 children aged 5 to 6 years. The study results suggest that most of the children do not have adequate, nor at least basic knowledge of how each environment preserving action affects the environment. Based on these findings, I conceived and carried out active learning activities, helping the children acquire the scientific knowledge, needed to understand the impact of pro-environmental actions on the environment. I focused on the following pro-environmental actions: efficient use of lights, saving in water consumption, and limiting driving by car. I carried out the activities in the experimental group which comprised 19 children aged 5 to 6 years. Additionally, a control group of 20 children of the same age was determined to make comparison possible. After completing the active learning activities I conducted the interviews again. By comparing the newly acquired results to the previous performances I deducted how performing my active learning activities affected the understanding of the pro-environmental actions. Experimental group results showed significant improvement in knowledge and understanding of the pro-environmental actions, which the children were learning about. Performances have not significantly improved for those activities, which the children were not taught through direct experience. I conclude that the pre-school teachers often use only imperative sentences, such as: "Switch off the light", "close the water pipe", "separate waste" ...when it comes to environmental education, instead of giving the children the opportunity to understand how these activities can actually benefit the environment. Our results show that the pre-school children are already able to acquire the basic scientific knowledge that is needed for understanding the impact of pro-environmental actions on the environment. Children tend to obey the instructions more often, if they can understand the reasons for them, which is very important also in the field of environmental education.
Secondary keywords:	pre-school child;environmental education;predšolski otrok;okoljska vzgoja;
File type:	application/pdf
Type (COBISS):	Bachelor thesis/paper
Thesis comment:	Univ. Ljubljana, Pedagoška fak., Predšolska vzgoja
Pages:	72 str.
ID:	8701119